'Because I work for RT': Graham Phillips deported from Ukraine

Graham Phillips, an RT contributor covering the conflict in eastern Ukraine, has been deported to Poland, following his arrest at Donetsk airport on Tuesday night.

Phillips, who was previously detained by Ukrainian forces for two
days in May, will not be allowed to re-enter the country for
three years, Russian agency RIA and local media reported. The SBU
said that the official reason for the deportation was the threat
Phillips presented to "state security, sovereignty and
territorial integrity" of Ukraine.

I'm free, ok, deported from Ukraine, banned for 3 years,
because 'I work for RT'. My car, money, bullet-proof vest taken
by Ukrainian army.

Despite cautions from the channel that the area was too dangerous
to work in, the 35-year-old journalist decided to film fire
exchanges between government forces and militants just a few
hundred meters away from the airport in Donetsk alongside a
stringer for ANSA News, Vadim Aksyonov. The airport building,
occupied by anti-Kiev forces since the start of the conflict, has
been a flashpoint as government forces have attempted to re-take
control of the key eastern Ukrainian city.

Aksyonov, who was released on Thursday, said that pro-Kiev troops
seized the two of them, placed bags on their heads, before
bundling them into a car and dumping them in a prison cell. The
Ukrainian journalist said that both he and Phillips were beaten
and tortured by security agents.

1/2 I wasn't beaten, Vadim was severely beaten, but had a
difficult day of detention by the Ukrainian army at Donetsk
Airport. They asked me

RT had conducted a media campaign to pressure the Ukrainian and
UK authorities into negotiating Phillips’ release.

With seven journalists killed since hostilities broke out in the
east of the country, Ukraine is the deadliest workplace for
journalists this year, according to UN statistics.

Dozens of journalists have also been detained by both sides,
including CNN stringer Anton Skiba, who was arrested in
militant-controlled Donetsk this week, and remains in custody.

“I am seriously concerned about the continuing abduction and
disappearance of members of the media. This practice of
intimidation continues to create an environment of fear for
journalists and media workers,” OSCE Representative of
Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović said on Friday.